bookhou at home

as you might know I am a big fan of diy - so I hope this one is not to late for the upcoming valentines day. I came up with this idea 20 years ago when I use to make greeting cards and I didn't do shapes like hearts, I made square shapes and would do water colour paintings in the window, I will have to hunt those down and photograph for you to see. I can't believe I did all that work and would sell the cards for $4, anyways this fun diy will give you an embossed look on your paper and you can add things to the surface by drawing or painting or what suits you best.

embossed heart stationery what you will need

• exacto knife
• folding bone
• card stock for the heart template
• cutting mat (optional)
• various papers

first start by cutting out the shape of the image (heart) with the exacto knife, it's a good idea to use a good thickness of card stock, the thickness will determine how deep your image sticks out. I didn't have a thick piece of card stock so I just glued two thinner pieces together you can hold the template on the good side of your paper, by holding up to the light, it will help you with your registration, I found it was easier to do this next step on the window. once you've positioned it to where you want it - take the folding bone and rub in the area of the cut out- if you don't have a folding bone, you can use a dull pointy tool, like your knitting needles - that should work. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, try drawing on the image afterwards or water colour painting the surface, a note on paper the softer it is the better it works, although it did work quite well on the manilla tags.

p.s. thank you for the positive responses to the new bookhou shop, I will have more work in there tomorrow. today was a busy day and I couldn't get to the computer.

have a great day! xxa